


Of Werewolves and Wolfsbane

by rose_envy, simply_editing_77



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Animagus, Bisexual Remus Lupin, Canon Explained, Canon Related, Comfort/Angst, Community: hp100, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Gay, Gay Male Character, Gay Remus Lupin, Gay Sirius Black, Good Severus Snape, Harry Potter - Freeform, Headcanon, Hogwarts, Hurt, Hurt Remus Lupin, Hurt/Comfort, Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape Friendship, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Marauders' Era, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Minor Lily Evans Potter/Severus Snape, Minor Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Multi, My First Fanfic, POV Severus Snape, Remus Lupin Lives, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Severus Snape Has a Heart, Shounen-ai, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Snily, The Marauder's Map, Top Sirius Black, Tragic Romance, Werewolf Courting, Werewolf Mates, Werewolf Remus Lupin, Werewolf Reveal, Whump, Wolfstar Kink Meme, Yaoi, Young Remus Lupin, Young Severus Snape, Young Sirius Black, canon explored, jily, klance_klance_revolution71, the untold story, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-09-28 22:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17191472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rose_envy/pseuds/rose_envy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/simply_editing_77/pseuds/simply_editing_77
Summary: Severus Snape had never wanted anything to do with the Marauders. They were the repulsive stench that poisoned his days, always looming overhead like some dark fog.  They had stolen his pride, his dignity, and were now intent on stealing the only person he’d ever truly cared for—Lily Evans. So when Snape stumbles upon Sirius and Remus brewing Wolfsbane, will he be sympathetic?  Or will he finally have his revenge? Only time will tell...





	1. Secrets Unveiled

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and Welcome to my first fanfiction! It has been a long time getting here, but I'm thrilled to finally be here. This fanfiction was inspired by my love of Harry Potter, but I do not own Harry Potter. It is a Marauder's Era fanfiction designed to mirror the canon in many aspects and perhaps further delve into the history of the Potterverse. Snuggle up and enjoy! Thanks!

The windswept hills shuddered beneath the burnt orange skyline. Afternoon was fading into twilight, and raucous laughter echoed throughout the Hogwarts square.

Severus Snape squinted against the fading scarlet hues of the sun, never one to cling to the daylight. His slick black hair hung low beside his face, emphasizing the sullen grey lines that seemed etched into his sunken jawline. It was a day like any other, and like most days, Snape had but one goal: to remain unseen-- a goal which was rarely achieved if James Potter had any say in the matter.

The moment he passed by the arrogant Gryffindor, he felt the smiling eyes shift to him, and his stomach sank. Severus didn’t care what Lily said--he hated James Potter, and the rest of his crew too.

“Oi Snivellus,” called Potter, who of course refused to let Snape pass unnoticed. “How’d you like to help me try out my latest hex?” He shot a mischievous look to his friends.

Snape blanched, averting his eyes and walking a bit faster as he braced himself for what came next. All at once, his body was suspended where he stood, and he began to rise from the ground. He tried to escape from the Gryffindor’s spell, but he found that the more he squirmed, the more constricted he felt.

Down below, a crowd began to form. Sirius, along with Remus and Peter, were all howling with laughter as Lily vainly attempted to persuade James to release the now upside down Slytherin. “James, enough--he’s obviously scared!” Lily cried.

“Oh relax. He’s having fun. Aren’t you, Snivellus?” At that precise moment, Severus’s body was jerked upward by the unseen force, and he nearly slammed into a tree. Realizing the close call he’d just barely avoided, James released Severus from the spell, and the flailing half-blood collapsed to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Lily rushed to his side, quickly drawing her wand and tending to the various scratches he’d accumulated in the process. James and the other Marauders ran away snickering, leaving in a blur of black and red, as though departing from a crime scene. Lily cast a disapproving glance their way as she finished mending the last of Severus’s minor injuries. Severus averted his eyes, unable to rise from his shame enough to voice a proper thank you before making a hasty retreat to the relative safety of the castle hallways. At least there were professors monitoring those areas.

It always happened this way. It was days like these that fed the fire of Severus’s  animosity, burning at the core of his very being. The self-proclaimed “Marauders” had stolen his pride, his dignity, and the only person he continued to care for at all--and without any real reason.

Soon enough, day faded into night, and Severus passed the remaining hours of light in the deserted observatory, where rarely a soul seemed to trespass upon him. There, he was able to study in peace, gazing at the stars with childlike wonder as he attempted to fathom the many distant worlds of which he longed to be a part. _Anywhere would be better than here_ , he mused darkly. He finished his work under the light of the rapidly dimming sky, and was in the process of self studying. Without the distraction of close friends, he always finished his homework before his classmates- which didn’t win him any popularity.

In his spare time, he composed spells of his own invention: often dark, twisted spells which his imagination reserved for his most loathsome enemies. He had never tried them, nor did he know for sure whether any of them were indeed effective, but at times he liked to think that they were. Liked to picture the look of horror on James and Sirius and Remus’ faces as they contorted with pain. One little word-- _sectumsempra--_ one little word was all it would take. But Lily would never forgive him. And _that_ he could not endure.

In all his musings, time had eluded him. He glanced at the hour and was surprised to find that it was past curfew. Gathering his belongings, he resolved to silently skulk down the hall, as he often did during hours of light. However, on his way back to the Slytherin commons, Severus happened to overhear some sort of commotion issuing from the potions room.

“No, it said _one_ dose aconite! Honestly, do you want to bloody kill me?” Came a hushed voice.

“Don’t be daft Moony! Obviously I’m not trying to _kill_ you. Hell, I’m trying to prevent you from killing others. Don’t I get any credit here?”

“ _Shhh!_ Keep it down! You’re gonna sick Filch on us!”

Reluctantly, Severus ducked into the shadows and inched closer to the crack in the doorway. Peering through the doorway, the pale Slytherin was able to make out two shrouded silhouettes: one with wild, mop-like hair that fell in unruly cascades in the half-light of the stars; the other with a slender but somewhat hunched form, as though tense with fear. The two were hovering over a desk where a series of ingredients had been laid out. From his hiding spot, Severus could just barely make out several items: a potions textbook, a series of strange vine shaped plants, a folded piece of parchment, several unidentifiable elixirs, and a set of beakers. These two were brewing something-- and by the looks of it, something they weren’t meant to be making.

Not that they were having much success. From the color of the smoke coming off of the cauldron, all that the two had managed was to burn a few ingredients. Still, Severus wasn’t one to let such an infraction slip by unnoticed. He burst into the room, drawing his wand instinctively as he faced the two dark figures.

The pair jumped as Snape emerged from the shadows. Now that he was closer, he was able to identify them, and he blanched as he realized who they were. “Remus Lupin? And Sirius Black! What are you two doing here?”

“Shhh! Keep it down! Er, please… we can explain…” came Sirius’s attempt at politeness. A particularly unforgiving expression had overtaken Snape in that moment, such that even Sirius seemed nervous.

“You want me to keep quiet? So you can--what? Brew another hex? Boil up something awful your depraved little crew can use against me??” His voice rose with his anger, and the pair turned pleading in response.

“Please Severus...be reasonable?”

“Oh, you know my first name, do you? I’m surprised. Here I thought you only knew me as ‘Snivellus’...” Severus shot back coldly.

“Severus, please--” came Remus’s nervous plea, and for some reason, the Slytherin felt hesitant to disregard this interjection. Remus had always been more genuine than the rest of his bunch--though that didn’t say much.

“What then? Out with it. What exactly is going on here?”

The pair of Marauders exchanged hesitant looks. Remus’s skin seemed to crawl, and Sirius had shifted closer to the nervous Gryffindor, as though ready to protect him if need be.

“Come on then. What are you two attempting to brew?” Severus pushed once more.

“Wolfsbane.” The word had fallen from Remus’s mouth and now hung flatly upon the tense air between them. Sirius looked nervous for Remus, and Severus’s eyes widened at the implication.

“Why?” Severus said, not fully able to fathom it. Slowly, Remus’s eyes shifted to him in the darkness, and the Slytherin felt his skin go cold.

“I’m...a werewolf.” Remus said finally, his eyes full of shame and fear. There was something in that expression… something about the unspoken words hanging behind them… Severus saw himself in them.

“Well?” Severus prompted, less harshly this time. He hadn’t made up his mind about the newfound information yet. “Have you managed to brew it? The wolfsbane?”

For some reason, the Gryffindor seemed caught off guard by the question. Remus looked up, meeting eyes with Severus hesitantly. “We haven’t been able to work out how much aconite to use… the wrong dose, could be fatal…” he muttered tentatively. Snape seemed to consider this as he drew closer. “Have you tried diluting it and ingesting a small sample to determine your base reaction?”

If the Marauders were phased by this, they didn’t show it. “We haven’t exposed him to it yet,” Sirius filled in, “We were just trying to go by the textbook as best we could.”

Severus moved closer, inspecting the elixir as he held it up to the half light. “Tolerance varies from person to person. You can’t rely on a textbook for something like this. You’ll need to dilute a solution for testing.”

The Slytherin’s icy gaze shifted back to the now engaged figures. “Can you… help us?” Asked a nervous Remus. Severus felt his chest tighten as he eyed the faces of his enemies. In this moment, they seemed almost… pitiable. He bit his lip, uncertainty bleeding into his expression as he surveyed them once more. “How can I be sure you won’t just resume your usual tirade tomorrow? How can I have any certainty that my actions won’t land me into trouble with the Headmaster?”

“We will take personal accountability,” Sirius piped up.

“Sirius...” Remus said, obviously moved.

“As for the bullying, we will have a talk with James to assure it does not happen again. If you can help us now, we will be indebted to you.”

Severus waited a long moment, and the pair seemed locked in suspense, their bated breaths filling the silent air between them.

“Have you killed anyone?” The Slytherin inquired hesitantly. Sirius seemed angered by the question, but Remus kept him at bay.

“No one,” came the werewolf’s succinct reply.

“Has there been any bloodshed during your transformations?” The Slytherin pressed.

“Only mine,” Sirius interjected, cold eyes boasting the truth as plainly as possible.

A long moment passed as the half-blood considered it.

“I...I will help you,” Severus conceded reluctantly, moving closer as he went to survey the ingredients. He could have easily had his revenge on them right then and there. One quick holler, and Filch would rush in. Remus would be outed as a werewolf and the Ministry would likely condemn him to _Azkaban,_ a fate worse than death. _One shout. That’s all it would take._

And yet...

Despite his hatred for them, Severus couldn’t do it. He couldn’t condemn someone for something as menial as existing. And in Remus’s case, that would be exactly what they’d condemn him for.

Removing the stopper from the vial, he poured one drop precisely into the beaker they had set aside, then quickly replaced the stopper, careful not to let any of the contents escape as he did so. Next, he drew his wand and whispered a quick “Aguamenti”. The beaker filled with water, and Severus stirred it a moment before passing it to Remus.

“This is the standard amount to be used when attempting to kill a human. Given that you are...not entirely human, this should not have nearly the same effect on you. If you feel lightheaded, it is a good amount, but not enough. In order for this to be truly effective when you are entering your transformation, it should at least make you pass out. Do you understand?”

“Pass out? What are you--” Sirius began, but Remus waved him off.

“It’s okay Sirius. I’m ready.”

Severus passed Remus the beaker, and Remus took it with both hands as he cast a bracing glance at the two onlookers. “Here goes nothing…” he muttered, throwing back the vial boldly. Seconds later, the glass crashed to the floor, and Sirius panicked as a slack Remus fell into his arms. “What did you do?!” He nearly yelled.

Voices echoed down the hall. Filch had heard them. Blanching, Severus quickly packed away the ingredients along with his other books and study materials he’d been lugging around since the observatory. Filch’s voice was getting closer, and already his red eyed cat had scurried in. They were done for.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! This was my first time writing and publishing a fanfiction! It's taken me a long time to get here, but with your support, I'll continue to write and post my works. I appreciate your feedback, so leave a comment below and tell me what you thought! And if you enjoyed it, please leave a kudos! Have a lovely day!


	2. A Solemn Swear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So sorry this took so long, but I hope you like it. My editor and I spent a lot of time work shopping it, so even though it's short, it took a lot of hard work. Also, if you like my work, I've recently started an artist account too, where I'll be posting fanfiction updates regularly. You can find me on instagram as @rose.envyarts <3 Thank you for reading!

Filch’s footsteps echoed menacingly down the corridor.

“Hide him!” Sirius hissed, gesturing to Remus’s unconscious body. Severus did so without question, dragging Lupin behind a nearby desk. As he did so, Sirius grabbed up an oddly translucent cloak and managed to throw it over them just seconds before Filch entered the room. Instinctively, the two conscious boys held their breath as the infamously merciless caretaker scanned the darkened classroom suspiciously.

“I know you’re in here. You might as well out yourselves now…” he snarled.

Severus was almost convinced, but Sirius shook his head, waving him off in dismissal of Filch’s empty threats. The squib proceeded to pace between the desks, surveying them with keen eyes. His red eyed cat wove between the rows of tables, stopping in front of the huddled trio for a moment.

“What have you got Mrs. Norris?” Filch smiled, scooping up the cat and glancing around. Sirius put a hand over Snape’s mouth, his eyes flashing dangerously. After a long pause in which neither Filch nor the boys made a sound, the caretaker swore under his breath and withdrew into the shadowy corridors, leaving the trio alone.

Severus sagged and let out a sigh of relief, his heart racing. Sirius did the same, only his face was painted with a semi-hysterical, adrenaline induced smile. Severus couldn’t fathom what the Gryffindor had to be smiling about, but nevertheless found himself grinning in return.

A moment later, Remus jolted awake, tugging at his two crutch’s arms as he gasped slightly. “Did..it work?” Came the werewolf’s somewhat hoarse voice.

“It appears so,” said Snape triumphantly, “We may be able to brew your potion yet.”

Remus and Sirius shared a look of relief at the Slytherin’s words. Unable to contain his gratitude at the prospect, Remus tugged the two into a drawn out embrace, one that Sirius fully indulged but Severus stiffened against. He had, after all, only just arrived on amicable terms with the pair, and the heartfelt embrace had come about two years too soon.

Still, Severus refrained from doing anything to ruin the moment, or for that matter, deter their favor. After a minute or so, the embrace ended, and the somewhat disoriented Slytherin turned his attention to the mysterious cloak that had slipped unnoticed to the floor in their relief. “What is that thing?” Severus inquired, leaning forward to inspect it further.

“Woah, hold on there,” Sirius chuckled, giving the Slytherin’s shoulders a gentle push and steering him away.

Remus placed a hand on Sirius’s shoulder as if to quell his concerns and murmured, “Relax, Sirius. He’s helping us now. He ought to know…”.

Remus smiled a bit as Severus leaned in for a closer look. “This is our secret weapon,” Remus filled in, picking it up off the floor, “our invisibility cloak. Well, technically, it belongs to James…”. The smiling Gryffindor eyed Severus expectantly. However, instead of the awe or wonder the naive Marauder might have expected to find there, the Slytherin’s face was frozen.

Severus recalled all the times he’d tripped on seemingly nothing--all those inexplicable injuries he’d accumulated doing things as simple as walking down the stairs. He also remembered his panic when beloved items (especially his mother’s locket and an old photograph of him and Lily) had disappeared, on account of what he had assumed to be his own negligence. Or the innumerable times projectiles--ranging from snowballs to sticks and rocks--had been launched at him from seemingly nonexistent assailants. His blood boiled with indignation, but he maintained his outward composure, feigning ignorance as he met the eyes of his alleged “allies”.

“This cloak… what do you normally do with it?” Severus questioned, his face impassive as he waited for their lies. He had been victim to the truth, but he felt a perverse desire to know how they would respond--what falsehoods they would fabricate to deny their past cruelties.

“I think you already know what we did,” Remus said softly, surprising the Slytherin with his sober response. Severus locked eyes with the earnest Gryffindor, surveying his expression plainly for a long moment. It wasn’t an overt admission, but the implication was deliberate enough. After a tense pause, a part of the sharp Slytherin’s lip quirked upward.

“Well, I can’t say that I’m surprised,” Severus began, breaking eye-contact and reaching for his bag, “but I appreciate your honesty. Now, back to the potion…”.

Retrieving the ingredients from his bag, Severus grabbed up the vial of aconite once more and held it to the light as he delicately removed the stopper. The contents glistened in the starlight, and Severus meticulously measured out the same dosage he had dealt to Remus just minutes before. This time, however, he increased the amount of poison by five drops, turning the solution in the beaker ominously cloudy. Sirius’s brow furrowed at this, but Remus prevented him from getting any closer. Undeterred by his friend’s restraining hand, Sirius let out a growl as he demanded, “I thought you said one dose was enough.”

“Yes, to disable him when he’s still in human form,” Severus finished. “But assuming his tolerance threshold rises upon transformation--which is more than likely the case--then he will need at _least_ twice the dosage to disable his animal form.” He held the elixir to the light as its contents swirled and began to foam. “Given that the full lethal dosage merely caused him to faint in his human form, and only for a few minutes at that, we would need about five to ten times the lethal dosage to do the same to his transformed self.”

“How can you be sure?” Sirius demanded, concern bleeding into his expression as he stood protectively in front of Remus.

“I can’t be. I never am,” Severus said plainly, as though the fact were common knowledge. He set the beaker down gently, meeting the Gryffindors’ eyes in the half light.

“What? But...but you’re the best potion maker in our year!” Sirius pressed.

“That’s because I _guess_. I thought you’d noticed by now that I never go by the book. Real potions, _effective_ potions, can’t be confined to the contents of a page,” the half blood stated matter of factly.

Severus’s words were met with wide eyes of admiration. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had regarded him with something other than disdain or hatred. He met their nervous expressions with confidence. “I’m not doing this for you,” he clarified, slowly glancing between the two Gryffindors, “But I don’t believe in condemning someone just for existing. If you let me, I will find a way to brew this potion for you. I swear it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long, but I hope you liked it! If you enjoyed, feel free to leave a kudos/comment and check out @rose.envyarts on Instagram for updates. Have an awesome day :)


	3. Fog Veiled Moons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! This chapter was in the works for a while. Hopefully worth the wait <3 enjoy!

The rest of the night was spent mapping out a time table for their preparations. According to the textbook, a novice would take roughly two months to brew such a complex potion. Luckily for them, Severus was smarter than the average novice. Long after they retreated to their respective dorms and were ensconced in their beds, the question bounced around in Severus’s mind, imbuing his dreams with images of fog veiled moons and viscous potions.

The next morning, Severus was more disheveled than usual. His thick black hair clung to his sullen cheeks with an extra helping of grease, and his tie was anything but tidy. On the Gryffindor side of things, Sirius also looked like he had been through the ringer. He had waited with Severus and Remus into the small hours of the morning. His usual chipper attitude and youthful pallor were temporarily lost--a fact which many of the fifth year girls were currently mourning. Only Remus had survived the night unscathed by the wounds of sleep deprivation (mostly due to the fact that the wolfsbane had functioned similarly to a sleeping draught), and he waltzed into the Great Hall as though nothing had transpired the night before.

Lily was the first to notice the fatigued movements of her usually animated friend. “Sirius, are you alright? You look like hell,” she commented sympathetically. “Thanks,” Sirius muttered back in what was meant to be a sarcastic quip, but ended up coming off as more of a dazed slur. “I try my best.”

Lily turned a curious eye on Remus, who simply shrugged and feigned innocence. Lily looked at the two skeptically. After a moment or so, James joined them at her side, placing a quick peck on Lily’s cheek as he turned to face his disheveled friends. Apparently, he had taken the long way to breakfast, curious to see how Snivellus had recovered from their previous run in. “Snivy looked practically dead over by the Slytherin table,” he remarked in a somewhat amused tone. Instead of being met with the usual approving chuckles of his peers, however, James was confronted with an uncomfortable silence.

“I mean seriously, who killed him?” James tried again. Still no laughter came. For once, Sirius and Remus looked just as unamused as Lily did. In the corner of the table, Peter offered up an uneasy chuckle. “Right? See, Wormtail agrees with me. Honestly, what’s wrong with you guys? You look like you’ve just rolled out of the grave.”

A little ways away, Severus was listening intently. He didn’t really have any friends amongst his fellow Slytherins, much less the Gryffindors (Lily being the exception), so many of his morning meals were spent quietly observing and listening in on the general gossip. The Slytherins, though notorious gossips, weren’t his concern this morning. Severus was instead far more interested in what his late night of fraternizing had yielded. To his eyes, the Marauders seemed more tense than usual. Apparently, Remus and Sirius were holding up their end of the bargain. Severus tried to make out more of their conversation, but all he could tell for certain was that James was more put-out than usual.

Suddenly, the clock tower bell cut into the Slytherin’s thoughts with a clang. Collectively, those remaining in the Great Hall rose from their seats, sweeping Severus along into the tumultuous herd of students now rushing to their respective classes.

As the month progressed, Severus continued to work tirelessly. As diligently as he tended to focus on schoolwork, he treated personal projects--especially ones of this magnitude and importance--with far greater respect. The observatory became his headquarters, and time and time again he found himself smuggling supplies from the potions supply closet up to the hideout for further experiments. He began to teach himself new and surprisingly useful spells, not the least of which was “accio”--the much underrated summoning spell which provided for about half of his supplies. Wolfsbane Potion, evidently, was a slow brew even for the most accomplished of wizards and witches, so Snape found himself hard pressed for any free time at all. It was sheer luck that Sirius and Remus had managed to keep James at bay for so long--he could tell the Seeker was just itching for a subject to test his pranks on.

By the end of the month, Severus had perfected his technique and produced the first Wolfsbane Potion. The only problem was that it would only work once. Assuming he wasn’t accidentally killed by the first attempt, Remus would need one practically every month, and it took a month’s diligence to make. Unless Snape found a way to bend time, there was no way he could continue at his current rate. Severus cast the thought aside, redirecting his attention to the pair before him.

“Take it by the light of the full moon, when the symptoms start to set in,” Severus instructed. “Any time before then, and the potion’s effects may be too strong for your human form.”

Remus took the iridescent potion from Severus, cautiously holding the delicate glass vial to the light. The anxious Gryffindor peered into the waves of blue fog with trepidation, half expecting to see the semi poisonous contents bubbling there within. A few feet back, Sirius watched nervously, clearly uneasy.

Tucking it safely away in his robes, Remus turned to the Slytherin once more. “Thank you,” came the werewolf’s earnest tone, relief shining in his steadfast gaze. Severus’s lack of abuse over the past month had been a true tribute to Remus’s gratitude, and Severus wondered how much longer his potion making skills could help him evade James’s ridicule.

 

The night’s descent left them all on edge, their conversation turning brittle as glass in the growing silence of the shadows. Even the light of the stars did little to quell the overwhelming sense of unease that rolled in like a fog. Severus reluctantly took his leave just before midnight, leaving Sirius in charge of administering the potion to the werewolf.

Remus, who had not yet reconciled himself to the fact that he would be deliberately poisoning himself (for all intents and purposes), was especially quiet, responding to questions succinctly or not at all. The moon rolled in on a thick fog that crept over the darkened hills like a strange monster. Sirius watched Remus with apprehension.

Finally the mist drifted aside and the night bore the pale, icy moon in all its splendor. Remus’s eyes shifted to it, darkening feverishly as the trance took hold. Sirius gripped Remus’s shoulders, steadying him as he tried to capture his friend’s attention. “Remus, I need you to stay with me for a moment longer. You need to drink this. Okay?” He held up the potion, its faint blue hue glinting in the moonlight.

Remus stared unwaveringly toward the sky, evidently deaf to Sirius’s words. Taking this as his cue, Sirius held the potion to his friend’s lips and forced it down the werewolf’s throat until Remus gagged. Sirius took a few steps back as the draught took almost immediate effect.

Remus doubled over, howling in pain as he squeezed his eyes shut. Acting on instinct, the werewolf fell to his hands and knees, attempting in vain to expel the potion from his now writhing body. This was no ordinary potion, however, and Remus crumpled to the ground, gripping his middle as he continued to shake violently. It was as though the draught had been made of molten lead, burning through his stomach into his veins. With one last pained shudder, the werewolf went still.

Sirius bent down beside him, nervous but still determined to help his friend. “Remus, can you hear me?” Sirius tried, but no response came.


End file.
